Mom cars and mom jeans….

I was heading out for my first yoga class of 2018 last night, and put my keys in the ignition of my 2003 Nissan Frontier, and it sputtered and then totally died. Since my husband was home and staying in for the rest of the evening, I grabbed his keys and hastily and made my way to his car so I could go to yoga and deal with my non-functioning car when I returned home.

Apparently, all it took to start my car again was a little wriggling of the battery terminal (thanks husband) – because really, it was no big deal. No major malfunction. Normally, I would just move on and continue throughout my day without much more thought about my car.

But pregnancy changes everything…

All of a sudden, you go from wearing your favorite skinny jeans to wearing your first pair of maternity jeans. And while, they’re “stylish”, you still can’t help but think of them as mom jeans. They’re certainly not as cute as your normal jeans (no matter how “stylish” they are) and they never stay up – leaving you with all of the saggy crotch and plumber’s crack problems. Let’s hear it for mom jeans!

via GIPHY

And then one day, you’re sitting in your car and you start to notice all the things you didn’t before. For starters, the mess (muddy trail shoes, dog toys and accessories, and ahem, straight up trash). And then, the backseat and the height of the car (oyyy, how am I ever going to get a carseat in and out of here…?). How it drives (ok, but definitely like an older car). How equipped it is (for 2003, well equipped. For 2018, not so much). How safe it is. How old it is. How many minor malfunctions it has. And you start to feel like maybe it’s time for a mom car to go with your mom jeans. I think this might be part of the nesting process?

I recently had the opportunity to drive a 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid XLE for one week. The Highlander is a large SUV, seating up to 7 passengers, or 5 with extra cargo space. When I first got in the car, I thought to myself, mom car. It’s extremely spacious and comfortable. It has seat warmers. And a backup camera. Hell, it even gets decent gas mileage (hello, hybrid) for such a giant car. And it drives great. Everything about it feels easy. It’s the kind of car you can drive around town, haul your kids and dog, and groceries comfortably. Plus, it’s not fake stylish like maternity jeans, it looks pretty great too. I guess you could say that it’s more of a hot mom car than a straight up mom car.

And I absolutely loved it. I loved my mom car for the week I had it. And with my current car sputtering at me and dying, it had me thinking about how things really do change when you have a baby on the way – your life, your perspectives, your preferences – you go from loving your sporty pickup truck to thinking about the ease and comfort of a large SUV.

In fact, I went from being the person who never thinks about their car, and the person who quite frankly doesn’t care about their car as long as it takes them from each adventure to the next, to the person who starts thinking about the height of the backseat, the spaciousness of the backseat and cargo areas, and of course the safety of the car.

I mean, from what I understand, babies take up more space than dogs and muddy trail shoes – and they even get their own special seats, just for added safety.

While we’re not currently in the market for a new car, my latest sputtering really got me thinking about what I’m driving and how it’s going to be with a little one in tow. I know I don’t drive enough to justify the spend, but as we grow our family, it will definitely remain in the back of mind….

For now, I’ll just sit here in my mom jeans dreaming of warm seats, great gas mileage, and all the space. Where’s Oprah when you need her most?

via GIPHY

Pregnant friends and mamas – what car did you drive pre baby? And what car did you drive post baby?

As always stay sweaty (and as far away from mom jeans as you can…)!

XO

Jamie

Disclaimer: I was provided with a Toyota Highlander XLE for review purposes through my relationship with DriveShop. That being said, all opinions, thoughts, ramblings and words expressed are my very own.